Contact: John Hartgen
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CORPORATE DEBTORS’ CHOICE OF LOCATION TO FILE BASED ON STATE OF INCORPORATION SHOULD BE ELIMINATED, ACCORDING TO CLOSE VOTE IN LATEST ABI QUICK POLL

 
December 21, 2010, Alexandria, Va. —Fifty-one percent of respondents to ABI’s latest Quick Poll believe that the Bankruptcy Code should be amended to eliminate the option of corporate debtors to file their case based on the state of incorporation. Forty percent “strongly agreed” and 11 percent “agreed somewhat” that corporate debtors’ choice of location to file based on state of incorporation should be eliminated.
The Bankruptcy Code currently permits corporations to consider venue options for their proceedings based on domicile or state of incorporation, location of principal assets, principal place of business and whether an affiliate has a case pending in the district. The option to allow businesses to file in the state in which they incorporated has been criticized by some stakeholders who believe that companies are filing in court districts of states that are away from their primary base of operations.
 
Forty-six percent of respondents, however, agreed that corporate debtors should be allowed to file in a venue based on state of incorporation. Forty percent “strongly agreed” and 6 percent “agreed somewhat” on the issue. One percent did not know or had no opinion.
 
ABI members and members of the public were welcome to submit their response to the statement: “Venue of a bankruptcy case based on the state of incorporation of a corporate debtor should be eliminated.”
 
ABI’s Quick Poll is posted on ABI’s home page, www.abiworld.org. ABI members and the public are invited to respond to a question on a timely bankruptcy or insolvency issue. Visit http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/ to access the results of previous ABI Quick Polls.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 12,600 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.